


Public Call

by Miikado



Series: Hijack Shorts [4]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drabble, First Meetings, M/M, Mention of homophobic slurs, One Shot, Phone Calls & Telephones, i have no idea how to tag this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2018-03-14 13:53:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3413120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miikado/pseuds/Miikado
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Jack finds a phone number scribbled in a bathroom stall, he decides to call it. If not to help the guy out, at least to satisfy his own curiosity. But in the end, the conversation took a very different turn than what he had expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Public Call

Jack hated using public bathrooms. They grossed him out, simple as that. He was a bit of a germaphobe—but not more than any _sane_ person would be—and he usually tried to hold it in for as long as possible. Except that today, he had drunk three large coffees from Starbucks, waiting for a date that had obviously stood him up, and he wouldn't have made it home without exploding.

He was washing his hands—with a bottle of hand sanitizer waiting on the side of the sink, just to be safe—when something caught his eyes.

The men's bathroom was completely empty. It was the middle of the afternoon, and most people were at work. Jack was only free because his university didn't give afternoon classes on Thursdays.

All the stall doors were opened, and from the corner of his eye, the boy could see a piece of paper stuck to one of the stall walls. Curious by nature, he pushed the door with his elbow—those things were unsanitary, unsafe, and every 'un' words out there—and gave the paper a closer look.

Scribbled on the wall were the distinct digits of a cell phone number next to a very unflattering message.

" **Easy gay fuck—Call Hiccup** "

Jack raised an eyebrow. He wasn't sure if the boy had written the number himself or if someone had thought it'd be fun to do it for him, but just in case, the college student typed in the number in his phone and pressed "call".

The phone rung four times, before Jack heard the rumble of the device being moved, and a surprisingly nasal voice filled his ear.

« Hello? » The stranger's tone was weary—who wasn't with unknown numbers?—but there was something in his voice that Jack found adorable.

« Err yeah. » The boy cleared his throat, his free hand clutching the snow-white strands of hair on the back of his head. « Are you Hiccup? »

« Yes. » The other said, suspicion audibly growing by the second. « Who's asking? »

« I'm Jack. » He answered, deciding it was better to be honest with the boy, considering what he was about to tell him next. « I was wondering if you knew that your phone number is written on a stall in the men's bathroom of the Burgess Mall... »

« _What?!_ » The scream was followed by a string of curses—some of them in a foreign language that the other didn't recognise.

« Yep. » Jack answered, popping the 'p'. He mindlessly scratched one of the numbers with his fingernail—though it did no good to erase it—and spoke again. « There are some pretty homophobic stuff on there too. » The "Hiccup" boy groaned and Jack bit his lips to keep himself from chuckling as he added. « Judging from your reaction, it probably won't help that whoever did this also thought it'd be a good idea to illustrate their point with what I assume is a picture of you. » He smirked, ripping the paper from the wall. « Cute freckles by the way. »

The boy on the other side let out another curse, but it was more distant this time, and Jack guessed that he had put the phone down. The corner of his lips tugged up into an amused smirk, and the boy picked up his phone again. He was still swearing, muttering various ways to murder "that bitch".

« So, is someone holding a mean grudge against you, or am I getting ahead of myself, here? »

The boy huffed. « Ex-girlfriend. » He said—a little out of breath, and Jack wondered if he was running. « Three months after we started dating I realised I was gay... As you might have guessed she didn't take it very well. » He hesitated. « And... I don't know why I'm telling you that, you probably don't care, sorry. »

Jack had a little laugh, genuinely amused.

« It's fine, don't worry. » He smiled. « And that's rough, man. You were just being honest with her, it was better than to stay despite feeling no attraction towards her. » Jack pulled a face. He remembered his coming-out experience, and it was far from pleasant. But at least he had been single at the time. « That really would've been a dick move. You were just being a good guy. »

Hiccup had an disapproving hum.

« Yeah, the epitome of a good guy, that's me. » He said, and let out a sigh. « And look were that got me. My phone number and my picture's on a bathroom wall—and gods know where else—just up there for any creep to call. » There was a second of silence, before he added a sheepish « No offence »

« None taken. » Jack shook his head. « I did call a random number on a bathroom stall. My intentions could've been a lot less pure. » He shrugged. « Tell you what. How about I get rid of all those? I can throw out the picture and try to erase your number. »

Hiccup hesitated. « You'd do that? »

« Of course! » The other said, phone tucked between his shoulder and his ear as he pulled out a black marker from his bag and started scribbling over the writings. « That's the least I could do, really. »

Once the number was unreadable, Jack decided to get rid of the other messages as well.

« So did you get any other phone calls? Because I'm pretty sure that you could sue them for harassing an underaged kid. »

« I'm nineteen but thanks. » Hiccup deadpanned. « And no, no calls other than yours, thank the gods. »

« You're _nineteen_? » Jack gasped, almost dropping the phone into the cubicle. He caught it just in time, hearing the boy on the other side chuckling at that. « I thought you were fifteen at best! » He cleared his throat. « No offence, I think you're cute. »

« Well that's a surprisingly creepy thing to say to someone you thought was underaged. » Hiccup said teasingly.

« Except you're not. » Jack smirked. « So there's no law that forbids me from hitting on you. »

He heard the boy choke, and smiled, pleased by his exploits at embarrassing the kid.

« Done! » He said with satisfaction. « I got rid of everything, you are no longer under the threat of receiving creepy phone calls, other thank mines, of course. »

« Thanks. » The teen's voice was soft, filled with genuine gratitude. « I really don't know how to thank you... »

« Don't sweat it. » Jack shrugged.

He glanced down at the boy's picture in his hand, considering wether or not he should keep it. He could see that someone had an arm wrapped around the boy's shoulder as he shot the camera a dorky grin, but the other person's face was ripped out, and Jack assumed it had been the girl responsible for all of this. Shaking his head, Jack stuffed the picture in his pocket. He could always dispose of it later.

« Just buy me a cup of coffee whenever and we'll call it even » He told the boy.

« I don't know... » Hiccup chuckled. « You've been decent so far, but I can't be a hundred percent sure that you're not a pedophile or an axe-murdered. » His tone was sarcastic and Jack chuckled.

« It's not pedophilia if you're over eighteen. » Jack simple stated with a nod.

« And about the axe-murderer? »

« _Excuse_ me! » The white-haired male said in mock offence. « What I do on my free time does not concern you! » The brunet laughed at that, and Jack shrugged. « At least you know that I'm not a psycho that'll broadcast your personal infos in every public space of town. »

Jack walked out of the stall. He stopped in front of one of the large mirrors over the sink, and took a second to fix the wild silver strands of hair that fell over his eyes. His hair was messy, as usual, sticking up in every directions, but the boy liked it that way. Leaning forwards, he saw that his naturally brown roots were starting to show, and even if it wasn't too obvious yet, he'd have to bleach them again soon.

« Well that's a comfort... I guess. » Hiccup deadpanned.

Jack laughed. « You should be glad! » He sung. « You might get murdered, but at least your privacy is safe with me! »

« I guess I should thank you, then? »

« You bet! » The white-haired male pushed the bathroom door open with his shoulder, and blended in with the crowd flowing down the halls of the mall. « But don't worry, I'm not too difficult. I'll accept my weight in gold as a form of payment. »

« That's gonna make a lot of gold. » The brunet teased.

« _What?_ » Jack gasped, avoiding pumping into the men and women in suits going home from work. « You wound me, sir! »

He heard the other boy laugh, and the college boy bit his lip. He knew he was being ridiculous, blatantly flirting with a kid he hadn't even met—and who had never even seen his face. But every time the brunet laughed, Jack couldn't help but think it was the most adorable sound he had ever heard.

The background noise was getting louder on Hiccup's side—and probably Jack's as well, now that he had left the peaceful silence of the empty bathroom—and the white-haired male guessed that Hiccup must've been walking in the street or something.

« I'll ignore that last comment » Jack said, waving at a little girl that was pointing at him with a huge smile. « But you definitely owe my that coffee, now. »

« Well damn. » Hiccup sighed, amusement lacing his words. « Fine. One cup, and that's it. I don't want you to get your hopes and, and think that you'd ever have a shot with me! »

« I'll let you know, Freckles, that you're dead wrong. » Jack shoot his head. « I doubt that you'd be able to resist my incredible charms after seeing how much of a hot piece of ass I am! »

« Eh, whatever helps you sleep at night, man. »

Jack was about to retort to that—with a remark full of wits, and not at all childish, mind you—but he was cut of when someone rammed into him with enough force to send him tumbling backwards a few steps. He groaned, glad that he hadn't dropped his phone—still held firmly against his ear—in the impact.

The white-haired male looked down, frowning slightly. The person he had ran into was a boy with auburn hair, quite shorter than him from what he could tell—but he couldn't be certain, since the kid was kneeling on the floor, picking up his phone and checking for any damage.

The boy brought the phone back to his ear and looked up, emerald eyes locking with Jack's sapphire blue ones, and they both spoke at once.

« Are you alri— »   
« I'm so sorr— »

The two boys froze when they heard the other's voice echo in their phone.

Jack stood there, staring uselessly at the teenager with the freckled face he recognised from the picture in the bathroom stall—except that the dorky grin had been replaced by wide eyes and a gaping mouth. Instinctively, his fingers reached for his pocket, making sure that the picture was still in there, and the boy hadn't popped out of it like a goddamn magic trick.

Jack was the first to snap out of his thoughts. He knelt down, helping the—still dazed—boy on his feet.

« Erm... » The white-haired male hesitated. « Are you Hiccup? »

The words had barely left his lips that Jack could've slapped himself at how ridiculous he sounded. The brunet blinked a couple of times, seemingly regaining consciousness as he stuttered an answer.

« I-Err yeah I'm... Jack? »

The taller male grinned widely. « Talk about coincidence. » He looked the boy up and down, noting his absence of bag. He glanced at his phone for a second, ending the call and stuffing the device in his pocket. « What are you doing here, couldn't wait to meet me? » He grinned.

« No, I— » The brunet relaxed a little « I was here to check the bathroom stall you told me about. » He added, pointing down the hall.

« So you don't trust me? » Jack pressed a hand to his chest. « I've got to say, Freckles, I'm genuinely hurt. »

« Shut it, Snowflake. » The smaller boy laughed, swatting Jack's arm. « For all I knew you added much worse comments instead of actually erasing the number. »

« Fine, whatever. » Jack huffed. « Go see for yourself. »

Hiccup nodded, and walked past the taller boy, not paying it any mind when he heard Jack keeping in step with him. He reached the bathroom and pushed the door opened, checking the empty stalls one after another for any signs of his number. Aside from a scribble that looked more like a huge black stain than an actual message, he found nothing.

Just outside of the bathroom, Jack was leaning with one shoulder against the wall, looking completely nonchalant as he waited for the smaller teen. When he spotted the brunet walking through the door, his shot him a large grin, and pushed himself off the wall to stand next to the boy.

« See? » He asked. « I told you I could be trusted! »

« Uh hu... » Hiccup nodded. « For a potential psychopath, I guess you're somewhat honest. »

The brunet laughed when the other male answered with a proud "I know, right?". Hiccup's eyes suddenly lit up in amusement, and he smirked.

« You know, it's funny... » He said, hiding his hands behind his back. « I actually pictured you to be a lot older... But I guess I wasn't wrong, you do have an old man's hair. »

« Hey! » Jack's head snapped towards the brunet, fingers gripping his bleached roots. « My hair looks awesome and you know it! » He crossed his arms over his chest, mumbling. « I'm only twenty-two, it's really not _that_ old... »

« Ah. » Hiccup hummed in obvious disbelief. He chuckled when Jack gave him a childish pout, and finally let out a relieved sigh. « But... I guess you did save me a lot of trouble... » He looked up, locking eyes with the white-haired man. « Thanks. »

Jack gave him a genuine smile. « Any time. »

He let out a small laugh and gently nudged Hiccup's shoulder with his own, both boys walking a little closer to each other after that. The brunet bit his lip, watching Jack from the corner of his eye while they walked past the various shops.

Hiccup had never been one for keeping up the conversation. He was this nerdy, secluded kind of character that rarely left his room, and it was a miracle if he managed to stutter a polite "hello" to the baker when he was buying bread. In truth, he was just this freckled ball of concentrated awkwardness, and although it had never really bothered him—much—before, right this instant he found himself not wanting this particular conversation to end.

He focused on Jack, walking next to him, eyes watching in front of him—although the smaller boy did notice him glancing his way from time to time—and relieved in the way their fingers occasionally brushed against each other, enjoying the way it sent pleasing shudders up his spine.

Hiccup looked down at his feet, drilling his brain for an excuse to spend a little more time with the man that had saved his freckled butt from quite a lot of trouble.

« So... » Jack cleared his throat, suddenly bashful, and his cheeks were tinted in the most subtle shades of pink. « Now that we're established that I'm a lawfully good person, how about I let you take me out for that coffee you've been _dying_ to buy me? »

Hiccup chuckled. That was definitely a good way to start.

**Author's Note:**

> Reminder: I'm currently accepting prompts and AUs for Hijack one-shots! If you have any suggestions, let me know and I'll get to is as fast as possible!


End file.
